Looking for a hard, Florida golf course? Get whacked by Panther Creek

I don’t know about you, but I like to try a really hard golf course every now and then. I get a little tired of easy, resort courses sometimes.

To wit: Panther Creek in Jacksonville, Florida. Panther Creek is one of the newest courses in the area. It doesn’t have a clubhouse yet and the parking lot is still dirt and gravel.

Also, they have nine holes to finish. Still, the 18 existing holes are well worth the $30-$45 green fees, if you want to bring out your masochist side.

Panther Creek is 7,526 yards from the black tees, though it can be stretched to about 7,900 if and when they land a major tournament. Andy Dye is the architect, and he put in length, awkward angles and long carries off the tee, dangerous approaches and tricky green complexes. Danger lurks everywhere, some of it unseen.

And that’s just the first few holes, before you get to the hard ones.

The course picks up movement as it draws near the greens, with knobs and knolls and hillocks, grass bunkers and some nasty, little bunkers set down in some of the mounds. Also, there are vast waste areas scattered around the layout, acting as huge hazards as well as, quite often, natural cart paths.

This isn’t the kind of course you’d want to take your kindly, old Uncle Joe to play when he comes to town, and definitely not Aunt Matilda. The ladies will have a frustrating day out here.

And if you’re having problems with almost any aspect of your game, maybe you’ll want to sharpen up on an easier course.

Tim McDonald blogs about his travels to golf hotspots such as Florida, Myrtle Beach, Pinehurst, Hilton Head and the Gulf Coast (including his search for great barbecue joints along the way). He also follows Tiger Woods' path through PGA history.

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